Sunday, May 31, 2009

Ok, here is the next chapter. In which Dave and I totally screw up in the photo department.

But first, Miss Ellen Purl Diva dog’s name is Loki. Just to let you all know. She very much liked my picture of her and little Loki.

Ok, so we got up on Saturday, May 9th, 2009 and got ready for the big day. The graduation was in Portland at a huge place called Cumberland County Civic center.

We got there about 45 minutes to start and the place was already pretty full, but we go two seats in the front row on the second level. What luck.

First came some bagpipers. (I know-the underneath the kilt question begs attention but I refuse to expound on it here)

Then came the faculty and some special person leading them holding a big stick thing. It was a special stick thing but really, it looked like a table leg. (I am thinking I am not giving this the proper respect but all I could think of was “Man her arm must be tired”)

Can you see her up there? Click to make bigger.

Cody filed in shortly afterwards

We were pretty much screaming and waving at him although he says he could not hear us, but he looked right up at us and was properly embarrassed by our behavior. We waved at him throughout the ceremony as he was sitting right below us.

Ok, this one you really have to make bigger. Cody is in the middle and the guy who is looking up at the camera is Seth, his old roommate and good buddy. Who happens to be from Tacoma/Seattle. Go figure.

OK, here’s where it starts to get a little dicey, but we are still good with two operational camera’s. (See where this is going?)

The speaker was excellent. Her name is Rita Colwell and she is a professor at U of Maryland and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. How could I not like her? She is into infectious diseases and water issues. And to top it off she has a PhD in Oceanography from the UDub. Seriously, the U of W thing put her over the top. Plus she was pretty interesting. Hello-in wikipedia-obviously she has made it to the big time.

Then we started the graduating procedure. We were good, oh so good. Seth started to walk and Cody was not far behind. We made a plan. Dave was going to take a picture of Cody on the big screen and I was going to get him on stage.

Here goes Seth…get ready….

OH NO-dead battery-seconds to go, what to do-we came prepared with another set of batteries-load new batteries in camera, new batteries loaded, Cody is mounting the stairs to the stage

OH NO-new batteries not functional. Still trying to get cameral to work-hoping for act of God. Cody’s name is called-he’s going up-Dave change of plans

CHANGE OF PLANS-get him on stage-hurry-quick……..ohhhh, too late. Dave is unable to switch gears after the original plan had been drilled into his head. I just caught a glimpse of Cody going across the stage and then he was done. This is what we got.

We also got some blurry walking back to the seat pictures which I will not torture you with. Can you believe it? &%*#$@!! The only consolation is that they took pictures of him getting his diploma (just like the top screen) and I ordered a bunch of those. Hopefully they will arrive soon and I will scan and blog accordingly.

Dave and I are “special occasion photography challenged” which was also demonstrated at a graduation for his son last week.

OK, so we missed it. We are sad and sitting there watching the graduates walk and all of a sudden a beach ball starts flying through the seated grads. Then another. They were playing beach ball to stave off boredom. It was great. I felt the total ADD of America’s future. I tried to get some pics with our one functional camera but they were pretty blurry. Here is one

If the ball went up to the front it was the responsibility of the returning to the seat person to retrieve and start the game again. I think it was really quite organized.

This is a poor picture but on the lower left you can see a blurry UFO flying by-that is a beach ball. The beach ball also made the front page of the Portland Maine Newspaper. Ahh, the class of 2009.

So, it got done and they filed out. Dave got a blurry picture of that (the little camera needs a steadier hand-but he did do well on the screen shot of Cody….)

Of course, we did not get a picture of him afterwards in his cap and gown. God, I swear we can’t be trusted at lifetime events.

So we met up with Kate and her parents who took us out to lunch at the coolest place. It took a while to get there because, as Cody so aptly pointed out, the graduation caused massive gridlock in Portland.

We went to Two Lights Lobster Shack, south and a little east of Portland. Go to the link for a slide show close up of their food and establishment. I said food first because that was my interest. See that kid with all that food in front of her? That was what we ate, in about that quantity.

This is Kate’s family-mom Debbie and dad Mike. Plus Kate and the happy grad. They took a picture of us too which we didn’t have them take in our camera because we were still reeling from the malfunction earlier. We continued the calorie fest with lobster rolls, fried clams, onion rings. Delicious.

And back to Cody’s house we went.

Dinner was at Falmouth Sea Grill. It took us a couple of tries to get there because we first turned into an assisted living facility thinking it was the restaurant. Fortunately, we realized our mistake before we went in. (The restaurant does not have its own website so I linked to a review)

It also was delicious. I had stuffed Haddock with baked potato and fresh asparagus, followed by a healthy helping of creme brulee. Always thinking, I wore expandable pants. Cody had about 8 pounds of stuffed lobster.

I present Cody Geddes, University of New England Class of 2009.

And so our day ended. (I got this picture but could not get him actually graduating, irony?)

Sunday, May 24, 2009

So after our first day we decided that we must shop. And shop we did. We first went out and finished the obligatory graduation present of pen and pencil set. This took much time in which we bought a print for the house. It is very cool but I don’t have a picture-yet.

Then we had to go see the Purl Diva in Brunswick, north of Portland. I drove, as I drove everywhere on this trip and Dave took pictures of the drive

(Have I mentioned how much I love Live Writer? A Microsoft program that actually performs-but I digress)

These are on the way to Brunswick on Hiway 295. There are lots of rocks and boulders around Maine. We like those.

We arrived tout suite at Chez Diva.

Inside we saw this

And of course Ms. Purl, whose real name is Ellen, a name which I must say is excellent.

I don’t remember her dogs name but look how talented she is.

Ellen Diva was happy to sell me some goods for sister Martha’s b-day, which was the week before. I use the excuse of wanting to get something from Maine for not being organized enough to have the present actually on the birthday in question.

Man do I have bad hair. Again. Ellen remembered me as the one from Minnesota whose son is at UNE. She has expanded the shop and is adding a classroom upstairs. I wish I could go there for a class or two or ten.

So we left there and went directly to see Cody at his house on Sand Dollar Haven. Doesn’t that sound like a fun place to live?

This is the fireplace (which they weren’t allowed to use-hmmm, wonder why), Cody in Cody’s bedroom, Cody’s kitchen and me in Cody’s bedroom.

And these are two of the reasons the fireplace was capped

That would be Cody and Bradley. I told them to pretend like they liked each other.

And this is the view out the front window. Isn’t it pretty? But I guess in the winter when the wind blows and the electricity is out for a day and it is really cold the view does not impress. At least that is what I was told. They also showed me a few divots they made in the wooden doors from pellet fights (stand in bedrooms and ricochet pellets off doors and walls and try to hit the opponents, and yet they recouped the damage deposit-go figure) That is looking out at the Biddeford Pool, and beyond this pool is the ocean, but you can’t see it from here.

After this exhausting day we had to return to our hotel so I could go to the “business center” (seriously, that is what it is called, but as you can see it is a computer in a corner by the front desk-unless they did have an actual business center that was hidden from most of the guests). I had to check Facebook, Ravelry, RoseKim, Harlot and my classes. In that order. I tried to check my remote e-mail but couldn’t remember my password. Oh well.

We took Cody out to dinner at the Olive Garden. Nothing like being in Maine and heading out to the closest franchise. We continued our goal to reach 7000 calories per day by eating a huge dinner followed by a trough of ice cream. Even Cody felt the need to go home and have a lie down.

So ends day two. Chapter 3 is next-the actual graduation in which Dave and I learn that we can take the stupidest pictures of everything trivial but when it comes to once in a lifetime events we are complete idiots.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

In addition-I finished my homework and had it all posted before I left.The bus movie changes every 30 days-that is why people get sick of it.Cody and Kate were celebrating an anniversary the night we got there.Click all the pictures to make them bigger or else you really have to squint and that is not good for your eyeballs (and can cause unsightly wrinkles)

This is the first chapter in the graduation saga. There are too many pictures to blog all at once and I don’t have the patience.

So, the story begins with when we left for Minneapolis. We stayed there overnight. Our hotel room had the smallest bathtub ever made.

I put the hairbrush there so one could see that the sides were very low. Like 12 inches tall. This totally cracked me up.

So after laughing about this for a while, we went to the Mall of America and looked for pens for Cody’s graduation. After rejecting the 700-1000 dollar pens (are you kidding-odds of losing said pen are very high) we decided to buy one somewhere else. We did start the vacation by eating some food court food. Well, I had steamed vegetables and rice, Dave had a Rocket burger, fries, and a shake. And so started our zillion calorie march.

We had a wonderful dinner with my bff Kari. I forgot the camera, the first of many camera blunders, but she snapped this shot of the skyline of Minneapolis from our table. That is when I joined the march and started eating with gusto. We were at Stella’s which you must go to when in Minne(apolis)

The next day we caught the shuttle to the Humphry Terminal-not Lindburgh like some people thought (that would not be me-I always thought it was Humphrey). It was a good thing we had a shuttle or nerves would have been frayed. This is what this terminal looks like at about 4:30 AM

And this is what Dave looks like:

So off we flew. It was a good flight and we got to Boston on time with a short layover in Milwaukee. Midwest Airlines is much less stressful than Northworst, I have to say. When we got to Logan we waited for a bus to Portland.

When it got there, we got on and off we went. Concord Coach line I think it was. It is a great deal. Here is what the bus is like

They even show a movie. Although I suppose some people get sick of it if they take the bus everyday or so. And some people do commute from Portland to Boston. I think the 20 miles to my job is long……

We saw some nice scenery

This is actually the skyline of Boston in the distance

This is the highway.

We got to Portland, then drove to Biddeford (15 or so miles south) and we stayed here

This is actually a few days later, it was still grey when we arrived in Biddeford.

We caught up with these two

who brought us a Subway sandwich for dinner. We already went shopping and had plenty of cookies and chocolates so we were set.

Stay tuned for Chapter Two in which we meet the amazing Purl Diva, who remains amazing, and did a couple of other things too.

In case you are wondering, my new laptop is to die for, although I could use a mouse. And I have discovered Windows Live Writer to blog. It takes half the time and I am in heaven. At last, the pictures are where you put them!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

I am back from Maine. I have to upload all the pictures so I am not quite ready to post yet, but I survived vaction with only a 2 pound gain. Talk about eating and sitting and knitting and not excercising. Except for eating. We did have some nice beach walks, saw Cody graduate, went to the yarn store.I'll be showing you very soon......

Sunday, May 3, 2009

This was a very very very busy week. I had to miss my running class on Wednesday because of it all.

Monday started out with Sit and Sew. I was so discombobulated I was cutting wrong and sewing wrong and everything wrong. I didn't even finish my squares! I don't know what was wrong with me except I was rather stressed out about having to get so much done before we go to Maine.

So, Tuesday I started the long marathon to getting the final projects done. As of today I have finished the powerpoint, the 5 page paper, one homework and have one homework left. That was all week just going to work, coming home, eating dinner, and sitting at the computer for 3-4 hours. I am so glad it is over. Next quarter-maybe one class depending on finances. No finance, no class.

Saturday I ran a 9 mile race which was slow and tiring. I don't know what is wrong but I do know I need new shoes. I hate getting so tired in a race. Then to Winona to get my hair cut and back to the computer to finish the projects.

Next week we leave for Maine to see Cody graduate-woohoo. We will be gone for a week. Cody is actually leaving Maine before we are. I am hoping to see my friend Dawn, go to some yarn stores and a fabric store south of Kennebunk. I can rub shoulders with the Bushes......There are pictures of all of this but I don't have the energy to post them-hopefully will get to it tomorrow. Maybe....

Happy Birthday to Martha who is never home when I call! Presents to follow. More about that later.

The birds finished the nest and did a fine job.I took a picture of that too!